Dallas homeowners, the Dallas County Tax Office is here with a stern reminder: The annual deadline to get your property taxes paid up is January 31, 2025. This is two days away.

This deadline won't matter to the many homeowners who have their property tax factored into their monthly mortgage payments. However, some homeowners — those whose mortgage is paid up, for example — do not have their property taxes put aside by an outside party. It is those who are facing a deadline to pay up. Missing that deadline incurs penalty fees, which can often be expensive. Don't ask me how I know, let's just say it happened to a friend.

This comes at a time when Dallas County property taxes have skyrocketed in 2025 to among the highest levels in the U.S., according to a recent report by information services provider CoreLogic.

The property tax report analyzed the growth in tax rates and housing prices across all 50 states and the most populous U.S. counties. From 2019 to 2024, Dallas County taxes increased 32.7 percent, or 6.5 percent year-over-year — putting Dallas in the No. 3 position on the list. (Two counties in Florida — Broward and Miami-Dade — had higher rates.)

For those who have not yet paid their property taxes, Dallas County Tax Assessor/Collector John R. Ames says that the wisest route at this late stage is probably to pay online.

“All seven of the Dallas County Tax Office locations are open Monday through Friday from 8 am-4:30 pm to assist taxpayers with their property tax payments, but we encourage taxpayers to pay online whenever possible to avoid the crowds,” Ames says. "Pay online, don’t stand in line!"

The seven locations are listed on their website, as follows: downtown Dallas, Garland, Grand Prairie, Mesquite, North Dallas, Oak Cliff, and South Dallas.

Dallas County citizens can pay online in two ways:

• Via an eCheck, for no additional fees
• MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express credit and debit cards but with fees

They can also pay property taxes over the phone by calling 1-800-831-3147. Or they can mail their payment — although at this point, with the deadline being two days away, that is risky.

For those who can't afford to make the payment in full, The Dallas County Tax Office allows partial payments — but there's still a penalty fee although the amount is reduced.

"Partial payments will be applied and only the remaining balance will be subject to penalties rather than the full original amount due," Ames says.